I Didn't Need Those Frostbitten Toes Anyway

[ase]

It is thirteen degrees out. Celsius people: -10 to you. This? This is not on.

[Poll #1319344]

Also, we're expecting a windy day. Wind chill advisory until 3 PM, brrr!

Comments

[sraun]

I grew up in Duluth, MN - -20 degrees F wind-chills were common between Thanksgiving and early April. And then I worked for a pair of motels that had nothing to speak of between them and Lake Superior - I was running back and forth between the two all through High School with just a winter coat, in -40 or lower wind-chills. This is old home week weather for me.

I regularly lament about Minneapolis not having real winters - not cold enough and not snowy enough. This year is looking to be a real winter! Yay! In point of fact, Minneapolis seems to have a real winter by my standards about once every five years or so.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Your expectations obviously have a lot to do with your concept of cold and "real" winter. Barring once-in-a-century storms, it'll snow twice in DC, and the 5-6" drifts will stick around for maybe a week. In other parts of the country, sneakers wouldn't be mostly adequate most of the winter, but with thick socks you're usually okay here.

[sraun]

Re: growing up & expectations - well, yes. And this is part of why I don't want to live in the South. I do not deal well with heat! There is a temptation to move to the northwest at some point - not as hot, not as cold, temperatures mostly in the 'quite comfortable' range.

I've got friends who moved from Minneapolis to Leesburg, VA. I hear from them occasionally about how the area deals with snow. They try to stay home when there's an inch of snow - they know how to drive in it, but they don't know how to avoid all the people who don't!

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

See, there's all degrees of cold.

"I have to put on a jacket" cold -- 55-60
"I have to put on a coat" cold -- 40
"I ain't going out in that!" cold -- 20
"OMG!" cold -- 0

The record here in E. TN is -28. And the morning that we were -28, Knoxville was the coldest place in the entire US! The coldest for Savannah GA was hit earlier in November at 22 ... Last winter it got down to 19 in Tifton (not a record, but close).

[ase.livejournal.com]

Brr. Hope you avoid another winter like that.

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

nods. The 19 was bad enough -- the house isn't insulated nearly well enough for that.

The -28? There was also a foot of snow on the round at the time.

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

This morning the wind was blowing enough to make the windows rattle (the house is as old as I am -- really -- and I'm no spring chicken*). And Weather Channel said it was 10 degrees F.

Long underwear! I thought. Layers!

And don't forget the hat and scarf. (Oddly, I never put my gloves on, though.)

*A winter chicken, maybe.

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

Oh, and record setting? We've had temps down to -20 F (this is about -30 C) three or four times in my life. I think it got to -25 once.

Again: Layers.

I think I'd rather have -20 weather than 20+ inches of snow. (And yes, we've had that a couple of times, although once I was a newborn baby still in the hospital.) You don't have to dig out degrees.

[ase.livejournal.com]

No digging, but the sensation of cold sucking the feeling from your toes, right through the sneakers, is one I could do without.